[Aluminum] If you take shots of people over 35, this filter should be standard issue. Just buy it!

[Aluminum] This filter performs as advertised. It has a quality finish and threads perfectly in my Nikon glass.

[Aluminum] I have mainly been using the filter to soften the portraits I take because I print straight from the memory card without using computer touch-up. I'm extremely pleased with the softening filter effects. I do make adjustments in my camera to work with the filter as in the sharpness and the coloring to suit my taste for the end results that I'm looking for in the particular portrait that I'm shooting. The results of the filter are very minor but to me that is the way it should be - just enough to take a second look at the photo without realizing why you took a second look.... The camera lens had problems AFing, the photos looked blurry more than not. I tried hard to make it work for me but NO GO.Also it is hard to find much info and samples of the filter's performance on the internet.I still plan to experiment further with the filter on other photo ops besides portraits. But I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys the challenge of producing their end results from the camera and not the computer.Thanks for reading this; I hope it is helpful.Mary Grace@

[Aluminum] If you're looking at this filter you likely already know what it is for, and sure enough it does exactly what Tiffen say. Optical resolution drops down but contrast loss and halation are kept to an absolute minimum. Strangely, if you look at Tiffen's triangle of diffusion diagram you'll see they put this filter halfway between resolution reduction and halation, implying you will get some soft highlight spreading. You absolutely do not and I don't know why that particular diagram suggests it when all their text and videos say it doesn't cause halation and, as I said, in use it certainly does not.
Allegedly on wide-angle shots or when using very small apertures you may see the black dots in the image. I can't say I've noticed this myself, but I only use this for shoulder-up shots, typically 50mm, often at fairly wide apertures, so I'm not in that 'danger zone'. If you want to shot wide and stopped down, maybe take caution and check out the Digital Diffusion/FX instead, which is meant to cause the same resolution drop without the black dots getting in the way.

I've had some limited experience with some Tiffen filters having poorly-cut threads, but otherwise the construction quality has been fine. Can't guarantee you'll get a faultless one but the fault rate, in my experience, has at least been very low – about one out of twenty filters having an issue, and even then, not one severe enough to stop the filter from mounting and functioning.

[Aluminum] Most photographers use at least one diffusion filter for portraits, whether a professional whose clients need to look great, or the rest of us who want to flatter Granny at her 90th birthday celebration party. I have kids with iffy complexions in their adolescence and didn’t want to rely too heavily on Photoshop for the fix.

For use on my Quattro DP2, this filter does a fine job of holding small details like eyelashes, yet blends blemishes well. (One caveat: a large blackhead or dark pimple may be accentuated, depending on circumstances, so a white diffusion filter or dab of concealer could be needed.) Since the eyes and lashes/eyebrows hold their detail portraits can be very flattering with this Tiffen product.

It looks odd by itself as it appears to be glass with a pattern of little black marks all over it, where I more or less expected some type of black screen or grid. Not being an optical engineer and as well as the filter works, I chalk it up to FM.

Also, I prefer to use Tiffen products in general as they have always be good quality, competitively priced, and made in the good ol’ U. S. of A.; what’s not to like?

[Aluminum] I love these filters, and I have the FX2 on all of my lenses for wedding videography. I like how it softens faces and reduces fine textures without adding any halation or losing contrast. My only gripe would be the artifacts in the filter are pretty noticeable in the bokeh or when the lens flares, but that's easy enough to work around.

[Aluminum] I bought it for video to have smoother images but I discovered that I also like it very much for portrait photography to smooth skin without having the dreamy halo effect. To my taste, the effect is very subttle, though...